STRONG & TOGETHER, we build brands

To mark the last business networking meeting of the year Athena West Berks met at Arigato restaurant in Newbury. As a longterm member, I was asked to present on behalf of my design studio STRONG & TOGETHER. Using examples of seasonal work for clients including JING, Mozzo, Blackberry Cottage, Jax Jeans, Absolute Architecture and Burnside Partnership, as well as referencing some possible ideas for businesses in the room, I was able to offer the group some tangible top tips for how to use the Christmas season to build their brands with their customers.

Christmas is commonly treated with generic images. It’s a massively missed opportunity to really connect in a memorable way with suppliers, thank customers and share the seasonal high spirit.

As a brand expert I work with clients all year round to create brands that respond to calendar moments in an appropriate and opportune way. My top three three recommendations to making the most of Christmas are:

1 Focus

Make seasonal investment appropriate and relevant to budget and brand.

2. Go for impact

Impact means single mindedness, one well chosen image will have more impact than a multitude.

However large or small a company is, Christmas is an opportunity to engage and put yourself at the top of peoples’ list. It’s the brands that give Christmas that bit of extra thought and make it relevant to their brands that will make them memorable and therefore successful.

Clare Sheffield is a brand expert and designer who works with a range of food and drink clients of all sizes on their brand identities. She helps businesses create packaging, marketing and retail environments that clearly and effectively communicate their key messages and personality. In addition to acting as the year-round brand guardian, she often helps businesses with their seasonal consumer and business to business presence - from packaging, gift ranges and point of sale to corporate gifting and staff rewards - via her business Strong & Together.

Last year, she worked with her long-term client Mozzo, an award-winning Coffee roaster and retailer, on seasonal coffee cups. Customers and retailers liked them. They were a talking point. This year the Mozzo seasonal range has expanded to a selection of two designs. For Blackberry Cottage her SPOONFLAKES design is as much an annual feature of the brand as the award-winning Christmas Puddings they package.

We use seasonal tie-ins to bring out the personality of the brand and prompt conversations and smiles. We also help clients get the timing right on the planning, design and production of products that need to be in the right place, at the right time, to maximise on the return on investment when it comes to the seasonal gifting market.

As a brand expert I work with clients season to season, all year round to create brands that respond to calendar moments in an appropriate and opportune way. Christmas is commonly treated with generic images. It’s a massively missed opportunity to really connect in a memorable way with suppliers, thank customers and share the seasonal high spirit. However large or small a company is, Christmas is an opportunity to engage and put yourself at the top of peoples’ list.

Here are Clare’s top three recommendations to making the most of Christmas:

1 Focus

Make your seasonal investment appropriate and relevant. Christmas should be treated as any other brand campaign or event. It’s a moment in the both the social and business calendar that should be responded to in a way that is appropriate to your business pocket and your brand.

Consider what you would like to achieve through creating a Christmas product or campaign. How will you know if your ambition was successful? Will it be through sales, or will you need to give people a way to show you that they got what you did, and appreciated it?

2. Go for impact

The power of colour shouldn’t be overlooked. It doesn’t need to be red, white and green to say Christmas. Retaining your own brand colours, but using a Christmas reference – a word, a shape or a playful reworking of something already familiar to your customers, could be the best choice. Impact means single mindedness. You don’t need a multitude of Christmas references, one well-chosen idea will be more impactful than a whole host of generic ones.

3. Show your personality

Don’t go kitsch just because it’s Christmas, unless kitsch is at the heart of your brand. Find way to be elegant, playful, rustic, refined, whatever best reflects your brand personality in all the choices you make. Hold a mirror up to the culture and sentiment of the season, but make sure that it is still the face and voice of your brand that greet your audience.

It’s not too late to think carefully about the design you use this Christmas. When it comes to saying thank you, there are many ways a designer can help you to cleverly customise off-the-shelf items, so that it feels as if they were only ever meant to be for your brand.

However, really being strong and together in your approach is best grounded in excellent planning. It’s about being ready to have the right things, in the right places, at the right time. If you’re a retail brand, it may be clear how Christmas should be treated and when you should start working on it. For everyone else it is worth remembering that, a food brand with a seasonal product such as Christmas Puddings or a twist on a standard product such as Christmas Spiced Latte, will have been working across the supply chain, and considering PR and adverting schedules from around about the moment when last year’s wrapping paper hit the bin.

Your Christmas ambitions may be smaller, but to ensure that you are included in the whole party, spring into action early in the year. Get your ideas tied down, wrapped up and photographed by working with a designer. Be ready to celebrate Christmas early. Give yourself the best opportunity to meet the summer deadlines needed to feature in the pre-Christmas press. Be prepared to make a great impression at the trade show, when the buyers are in their sunglasses but secretly have Christmas on their mind.

It’s easy to use generic imagery and messaging at Christmas but it’s those brands that give Christmas that bit of extra thought and make it relevant to their brands that will make them memorable and therefore successful.

Clare Sheffield, Founder & Creative Partner at STRONG & TOGETHER

Clare’s experience includes the re-branding of Fortnum & Mason, creation of the design of the Sainsbury’s Basics range and judging on many brand and packaging award panels.

If you would like to discuss design for your business contact STRONG & TOGETHER

Trade shows are a huge opportunity to showcase your business, have some conversations and win over some hearts and minds for your brand. Featured as brand experts by Speciality Food magazine, have a read of our top tips for preparing your stand for a trade show.

Design is a powerful tool for business. The right name, positioning and identity, managed consistently across all your business assets, is a key to growth. Along with fellow members of Athena West Berkshire Strong & Together features in Newbury Weekly News as part of the annual Athena Business Feature.